


As They Came In: A Wild Magic Prequel Short Story

by HeRell_77



Series: Wild Magic [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bottoming from the Top, Childhood Friends, Complete, Dirty Talk, Discrimination, First Kiss, First Time, First Time Bottoming, First Time Topping, Friends to Lovers, Gay Sex, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Outdoor Sex, Riding, Short, Soldiers, Topping from the Bottom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-24 09:06:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19720561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeRell_77/pseuds/HeRell_77
Summary: *****COMPLETE— 6k word, four part short story of the Wild Magic Series, prequel to By the Light of the Moon. This is a friends-to-lovers, first-time, M/M romance short story *****Dasan and Nibley have been together forever, since the hour of their birth. It should have made their love easy, being born at the side of their very future, but it was anything but easy."As they came into this world," the midwife said. "So shall they leave it. Together."





	1. So Will They Leave It

**Author's Note:**

> *****In the Wild Magic Series, Dasan and Nibley are husbands who have been together forever, since before same-sex marriage was allowed or even tolerated. This is their story.*****

NIBLEY—

My ma used to always tell us the story of our birth, mine and Dasan's. Only minutes apart, to women who had been friends since they were themselves in the cradle, we chose the same day, the same hour, to make our appearance into the world. 

"The poor midwife finally gave up running back and forth between our homes," she would tell us as she kneaded bread for the morning's breakfast. "She forced me to move over into the Sarleno home to deliver you, Nibs. So when Dasan was born, she had to only move over just a bit to pull you the rest of the way out."

"As they came into this world," the midwife said as she handed me to Ma. "So shall they leave it. Together."

It was a prediction I felt in the core of my very being each time Ma spoke it aloud with just a hint of a smile in her voice. She knew. She always knew. 

I knew my whole life I would one day be Dasan's husband, but Dasan took a little more time figuring things out. Mayhap he knew, and he just refused to face it. Mayhap he was afraid— afraid of the way we would likely be mocked, scorned, cast out for our love for each other. But I've never been anything but patient, and I think my years of waiting on the stubborn man to truly see me attributed to that. 

We grew up under the watchful eye of both of our families— my pa the town baker, Dasan's the blacksmith. Though we were both the eldest in our families, neither of us wanted to follow in our respective pa's footsteps. 

We spent our days exploring the woods outside of our childhood town inside the Teren border, called Tu'riah, doing our best to stay out from under our pas' thumbs. We fished, hiked up to Sretou Pass, and just in general kept ourselves away from home and the watchful eye of those who would judge our bond.

I ruined everything when I made him realize how he really felt about me. When I pushed his feelings in at him and made him face them. When I showed him how good I could make him feel. 

The moment he was able by law, Dasan joined the king's army, barely 18 and with baby fat still heavy on his cheeks. Our parents threw a kind of going-away party, Dasan's pa equal parts proud and disappointed that his son wasn't taking over his shop. Luckily, Marina, Dasan's ma, had borne three more boys, and each of them had taken far more of an interest in the family shop. My own parents only had my sister, but she was already sought after by plenty of the village boys, so it was only a matter of time before Pa found an heir in my sister's husband. 

Dasan kept away from me for most of the party, and I knew why. He was running away from a future he didn't want, the town we grew up in, and me. He was distancing himself from me, terrified of what he felt for me, and I for him. 

Luckily for him, I've always been the smarter one; and he wasn't the only one who was old enough to join the king's army. 

DASAN—

I felt Nibs' eyes on me all night, but I forced my attention on my family and the others. He had to know, I was doing this for him as much as for myself. We weren't meant to be together— we were both men, for the gods' sake. It was unnatural, and his stubborn refusal had pushed me to extreme measures. 

Nibs had been by my side since birth. He was like one of my limbs, an irreplaceable bit of me. And if we were to get together— to publicly declare our love— we would be ostracized, hated by many, accepted by very few. And I couldn't allow Nibs to live that way. He was sweet in a way I'd never seen in a man. He was precious, to be protected, and if that meant taking myself out of the equation so he could find some woman to love and marry and make babies with...?

Gods, I didn't want to. The very thought made me ill. But I would, because I did love him, dammit. I hadn't realized _how_ I loved him until recently. Until a hike up through Sretou Pass, then a swim in Ekator Lake. We'd always swum naked, ever since we were children and had come up here the first time. And yet suddenly, it wasn't just my best friend Nibs. 

It was a very naked, dripping, laughing, sexy Nibs. His skin dark from too much sun, his eyes bright with laughter as he pushed his lank hair from his eyes, his prominent abs cut like steel. His cock long and heavy, hanging beneath a patch of light colored curls. His nipples dark and erect, making my mouth instantly water for a taste. 

I turned away, horrified by the thoughts that had come into my mind. I covered my own prick, my horror compounding that it was plumping with interest. 

"C'mon, Dassie," Nibs shouted from the lake below. I stood on the cliff above, where we had made it a game to jump as far into the lake as we could. Nibs' taunting made me roll my eyes— he knew how much I hated the childhood nickname he wouldn't let go of. "You scared, big guy?"

I jumped, cannon balling so I splashed him with a huge wave. He went under with me and we both came up at the same time, Nibs choking a little as he laughed hysterically. 

Then he was right there, shoving me under the water, and my twitching cock made the complete change to hard when I opened my eyes under the water and Nibs' prick was mere inches from my face. 

Nibs and I had never really been interested in the girls of the town. I was always far too excited by my and Nibs' next planned adventure, and Nibs had always been far too focused on... me. We'd had interest from them, for sure. Even their parents had made mentions of us showing an interest in their girls— trying to bag the baker and blacksmith's sons for their daughters. But Nibs had flat-out ignored or refused them, and I'd made polite excuses about not having time, then run away as fast as I could. 

That now all seemed like excuses as I stared at Nibs' naked body and my entire body felt as if it was lit on fire. I came back up out of the water, gasping and shoving away from Nibs. He watched me with confusion and concern. 

"You alright, Dassie?" he asked, reaching for me. 

I slapped his hand away, disgusted with myself and my body's sudden reaction to my best friend. And terrified he would notice. Gods, how would he react? He was a man, masculine and dominant in every way. He would revile me for what I was feeling. 

I swam to the edge of the lake, followed closely by my friend. I covered myself as best I could, ducking down to grab my trousers I had left hung on a tree branch. 

"It's ok, you know," Nibs said gently from a few feet behind me. I froze completely, realizing with a rush of embarrassment that he must have seen. 

I turned a little, staring back at him, and immediately wished I hadn't. His skin glistened with drops of water that sluiced down his pecs and pooled a little in his belly button. His long, lean legs were braced apart, his face gentle and affectionate, and his cock... dear gods, his cock was semi-hard, leaning up against his thigh. 

"I feel the same way, Dassie. It took you long enough to notice." He laughed, smiling as he took a few steps towards me. 

I turned completely, still awkwardly hugging my trousers to my groin, and stared Nibs down in dumb confusion, my heart hammering in my throat as his long legs ate up the distance between us.


	2. Only Yours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****Sorry about the wait on this!! I finished writing it before I uploaded the first chapter, but I ended up almost completely scrapping what I wrote & rewriting it. I love Dasan and Nibley. They've really grown on me since I first introduced them in By the Light of the Moon, and I wanted to be sure I did their story justice. I kind of want to give them a full book someday, and maybe I will, but not right now. For now, this is just a snippet of them :) So yeah.... here ya go :):) 
> 
> Oh yeah, P.S., Dasan and Nibley's theme song (aka the song I had on repeat while I wrote this) is Letters from the Sky by Civil Twilight <3<3*****

NIBLEY—

I moved slowly, knowing Dasan was ready to bolt at any second, clothes be damned. He kept his trousers covering his groin, but I knew what he hid. I'd caught a glimpse of his erection as he stared my naked body down. 

"Dassie, please don't hide from me. Never from me."

"It's... I'm sorry, Nibs. I didn't mean ta—" 

"— Don't apologize," I cut in, shaking my head as I reached him and held my hand out, fingering the trousers clutched in his fists like a lifeline. "Don't apologize. The way you feel— the way we both feel— it's not wrong, Dassie."

I pulled Dasan's trousers from his hands gently, letting the cloth fall to the ground in a wet heap at his feet. He met my eyes and I moved quickly, but smoothly, knowing everything— my entire future, my love for my best friend— relied on my ability to convince Dasan to love me. To let me love him. 

I leaned forward, letting my lips rest against Dasan's, smiling as he gasped a little. The motion opened his mouth just enough for me to deepen the kiss, my tongue moving out to press against his lips, seeking out the warmth I knew I would find inside him. 

"Open your mouth for me, Dassie," I murmured against his wet, trembling lips. "Let me in."

Dasan's mouth opened just that little bit more, and I took full advantage, my hands coming up to cup his cheeks, still just a little round from childhood though he was a few years into manhood. I spent many hours a day imagining my Dasan 10 years into the future, 15, 20, an old man. I pictured us together still, our hands molding to fit better into the other's, our lives so entwined we were as one. Our souls giving up their bodies in the same day, the same hour, when death finally took us both. 

It was a future I wanted like I wanted my next breath. And it would be mine, if only Dasan would accept me, accept us. 

If only we were strong enough to endure. 

I tugged on Dasan's arms gently, leading him back towards where my bundle of clothes were laid. Call me a pervert, but since I hit puberty and had begun to realize I was staring at Dasan's ass and the bulge in his trousers rather than any of the breasts of the girls around me, I kept a small vial of bed oils in my pocket. I was a teenage boy, after all, and wanted to ensure that if the happy event of Dasan realizing my feelings for him ever came about, I would be prepared. 

And prepared I was. 

I had to replenish the vial annoyingly often, for I couldn't even count the many, many times I had brought myself to orgasm, my fingers deep inside my own body, Dasan's name on my lips and his dick rocking inside me rather than my fingers in my mind.

"I want you inside me," I whispered, pulling away from a heaving, stunned Dasan as I pushed him down. He knelt and I let myself fall to my knees in front of him, my hands running up and down his arms as I met his lust-glazed eyes. "Will you fuck me, Dasan?"

Dasan's eyes widened, but his nod was immediate and nearly frantic. 

"Fuck, Nibs," he moaned, dipping forward to bring his lips to mine. "Fuck, yes, I want you. Wanna be inside you. Wait—" he froze and pulled away, yanked out of his lust-haze with a frown and a creased brow. 

"How?" he asked, confusion lacing his words. "How do I... You're a man."

I chuckled as I searched my trouser pockets for the vial of oils. "I am a human male, yes. Very observant of you, Dassie," I said dryly. 

"Don't mock me, Nibley," he growled, his cheeks heating with embarrassment and anger. "I mean... you don't have... we're not— you know. We're not compatible... that way."

His embarrassed stumbling was endearing, but also very arousing somehow. Gods, how had he made it 18 years without learning about something like this? I'd asked my ma before I was 13 summers how two men made love. She was very explicit in her instructions, gave me my vial of bed oils, and made sure I understood the importance of preparation before penetration. 

Looking back, I could tell she knew about my love for Dasan. What 13-year-old boy asked about same-sex sexual relations if they weren't interested in another boy? And who else did I spend any kind of time with than Dasan?

The fact that she spent so much time ensuring we would be safe once we began our explorations into our physical attraction told me she would accept me, as well as Dasan, once we were officially lovers and partners. That thought was a comforting one, for I wasn't sure how Dasan's family would react. 

"You put your dick inside my ass, Dassie," I explained, purposely explicit so he would know how serious and prepared I was. "It will feel good for you, for obvious reasons, and for me, it's supposed to feel good because the asshole is sensitive, and also there's a spot inside, just under a man's balls, called the prostate. When it's stimulated— like with a cock rubbing against it— it's incredibly pleasurable."

Dasan was aghast, his mouth dropping open and his eyes widening. 

"Your ass...?" he repeated dumbly as I got to work wetting my fingers with oils and reaching behind myself. I had played with myself enough that putting one or two fingers inside me wouldn't take more than a couple of minutes. 

Dasan's well-endowed prick, however, was going to take some getting used to. 

"Won't that be painful?" he asked, his eyes flicking down to where my fingers were playing behind my balls. His eyes widened even further, then he met my eyes and I was surprised to see betrayal and anger there. "You've done this before? With... with who?"

I laughed, flinching as I pressed a second finger inside myself. Noting the seriousness and pain in Dasan's eyes, I shook my head and leaned forward to press a kiss to the edge of his lips. 

"I'm as much a virgin as you are, Dassie," I replied, moaning as I slid the tips of my fingers against my prostate. "I only... I've known how I feel about you for a long time, Dasan. So I've experimented."

"You mean you—" he cut off, unable to finish as I panted right up against his face, my fingers moving in and out of my hole. I was almost ready. "You... pleasured yourself that way?"

"I did. I masturbated with my fingers in my ass, wishing they were yours. Wishing they were your cock, your fingers, your tongue."

Dasan gasped and shuddered and I glanced down to see a trickle of precum drip down his thick, heavy shaft. 

"I love you, Dasan. I've loved you since we were children. I've never been touched by another, and never want to be touched by another. I'm yours. Only yours."

Dasan's eyes fell to half-lidded slits. He leaned forward, grabbing my lips in a bruising kiss as he finally brought his hands up to touch me. It was only my shoulders, but it was something. 

It was his hands on my skin, so I was in heaven. 

I gently pushed him back, finally deeming my ass as ready as it would ever be. I quickly and gently dribbled the bed oils onto Dasan's proud, erect cock, reveling in his gasp as I gripped him for the first time. He bucked up into my hand, and I straddled his waist, wanting— no, _needing_ him inside me now.

Now. 

Right. Fucking. _Now_. 

He raised himself up on his elbows, staring at me, then between my legs, under my balls, where he could see my fingers gripping his cock to place him at my hole. 

"Baby," I moaned as I pressed his cock to my hole and my entire body flamed. "Please, please," I whimpered. "Please make me yours."


	3. No Matter What the Future Brings

NIBLEY—

Dasan’s fingers came up to grip my hips, his thighs bunching as he slowly pulled me down, while at the same time pushing his cock up and into my body. It hurt, I couldn’t lie. It was a deep, belly-aching, throbbing kind of pain that had me panting and whining. I pushed myself down, trying to relax and accept the intrusion of Dasan’s surprisingly large cock. 

“Does it hurt?” Dasan whispered, his voice almost reverent. As if he was afraid that saying the words too loudly would spook me and make me stop. 

“A little,” I admitted, flinching as another inch pressed inside me and my anus fluttered around the intrusion. “But it’s also… Dasan, it’s like… right. It’s right. It feels good, because it’s you, and it’s me, and you’re inside me. We’re one.”

Dasan’s body jerked and I cried out as the move had me slipping down the last few inches at once, until my ass was resting against his pelvis. 

“You alright, Nibs? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Dasan’s word were agonized, sweat dripping down his face, his chest heaving, his pupils blown wide with his lust. 

And I reveled in that. I had done that— I had put him in that state. 

I had made his cock hard and his body shake with pleasure. 

“Does it feel good inside me, Dassie?” I asked, meeting his eyes with what I hoped was a smile. I was full— gods, I was full and aching around his length. But I was also hot and somehow kind of floaty, so I knew I just needed to let my body get used to the feel of Dasan’s prick inside me. My body just needed to get comfortable with the shape and size of him, carve a place out inside me for him, and it would start to feel wonderful. 

I just knew it. 

“It’s… Nibley, it’s so fucking good,” he groaned, his fingers on my hips tightening as he visibly strained not to thrust up into me. “You’re hot, and tight, and you’re gripping me, squeezing me. I never knew it could feel like this, Nibs.”

“Just give me a minute, ok? I need to get kinda used to it, then we can start movin’.”

“Yeah, of course, Nibs. I won’t move ‘til you say.” He paused, and then, “Does it hurt real bad, having me inside you?”

“It’s not too horrible, but a little, yeah. It feels… I feel full, though, and that’s a good kind of feeling. Like you’re filling me up all nice and snug. I’ll be ready in just a minute, love.”

“I love you, Nibs,” he whispered, so quiet I wouldn’t have heard him if I wasn’t so attuned to his every move and sound. I stared down at him, my body somehow relaxing and tensing at the same time, and my mouth open in shock. I shuddered as my cock, dropping a little with the pain of penetration, rose back to full mast, and the pain in my ass seemed to fade into background noise. 

“I’m gonna move now,” I returned, leaning down to place a gentle kiss against his lips, and then I was back up, arching my back, and beginning to move my hips. 

I twisted my body awkwardly until I fell into a kind of rhythm, my hips thrusting in fluid movements, Dasan’s cock grinding inside of me so deeply I cupped my belly, sure I would feel him there, just beneath the skin. 

Dasan’s fingers gripped my hips, his chest heaving as he kept my gaze, his eyes bright, his pupils blown wide with his lust. 

“Feels good?” I whispered, reaching down to put my own hands over his, clutching his fingers against my body. My toes curled as Dasan began to meet my thrusts, his hips coming up just a bit from the bed. 

“So good, Nibs,” he replied, before grabbing one of my hands and dragging my fingers to his mouth. He kissed the center of my palm, then pressed my fingers past his lips and began to suck them between his teeth. It should not have felt as amazing as it did, but it had pleasure shooting straight from the digits to my dick. “What about you?”

“Gods, Dassie, so good,” I moaned, my eyes rolling back in my head as I continued to grind down on the man beneath me. “My body’s afire.”

Dasan grunted, and his thrusts grew just that bit rougher, his tongue tangling with my fingers as I panted above him. My entire body trembled, fire shooting down my spine and my balls drawing up each time Dasan’s prick slid against that spot inside me. 

“I’m not gonna last much longer, Nibs,” Dasan warned, pulling my hand from his mouth and kissing the wet digits sweetly. Reverently. 

Then his hand was gripping my prick and I screamed to the sky above me, my voice broken and pleading. 

“I’m coming, Dassie!” I hissed, my hip movements growing erratic and jerky as I humped into the warm cavern of Dasan’s palm and back against his prick. “Oh gods, I’m coming!”

Dasan groaned before nodding and tugging on my cock a few times, my cum spurting out and tangling in his fingers before dripping down to his hips, and then his thrusts up into me grew frantic, thrusting deep, and he cried out. 

“Gonna come inside you, Nibs!”

I shuddered, my own body beginning to calm from my orgasm, and collapsed on Dasan. His pants in my ear as his final few thrusts nearly threw me off of him had my spent cock twitching, and then my body was filled with heat. 

“Oh Goddess Alma,” I panted against Dasan’s sweaty chest. “I feel that, Dassie. I feel your seed inside of me. It’s so warm.”

Dasan’s heaving breaths lifted me and lowered me, and he wrapped his arms around me, keeping me against him, splayed open and vulnerable atop his body. His cock stayed lodged inside of me, slipping out just a little as it began to soften, and I nearly mourned the loss. 

“You feel perfect, here on top of me, around me, connected to me,” Dasan whispered against the top of my head. 

“As do you, with your spend inside of me, and your cock holding my ass open for you.”

Dasan nearly whimpered at the dirty words, and I chuckled. 

“I love you, Nibs,” he said, the words sad, nearly mournful, and I knew I was losing him to his own misgivings and fears. Losing him, but only for now. He would never be far from me, that I swore. 

“And I you,” I replied, my resolve never wavering. Whether he liked it or not, Dasan was mine. “No matter what the future brings, you’re mine and I love you, Dassie.”


	4. Finally and Forever

DASAN—

I avoided Nibs all night, and planned to leave early the next morning. Though I wouldn’t get to say goodbye to him, to the man I loved with my entire being, I knew it was the right thing to do. It was the right thing, because it was the only way I knew to protect my Nibs from the future being with me would bring. 

Scorn. 

Hatred. 

Disgust. 

Loneliness. 

We would never be accepted, never be allowed to truly be together, as a man could be with a woman. We would live half lives, never able to settle down and be together. Never able to be a part of any kind of friendships or community. Ostracized and hated. 

I couldn’t do that to my best friend. 

I wouldn’t. 

The night before had been a mistake. A wonderful, incredible, orgasmic mistake. But a mistake nonetheless. 

And now, I would leave Nibley behind so he could forget me and move on. Find a woman to love and grow old with, have babies with and care for. 

The thought had me both angry and resentful. He could move on, because my leaving him would anger him and he would have to move past me, but I knew I never could. 

Nibley was my great love. My soul mate. And I would never have another. I knew that like I knew the sun would rise in a few hours. 

Having said goodbye to my family the night before, I saddled my stallion Dave in the dewy pre-dawn hours silently and made my way out of my family’s stables. I prayed to the gods that I would return someday, and that when I did, I would be strong enough to face Nibley and what would undoubtedly be a beautiful family.

My prayer wasn’t even finished when I froze in my tracks, horrified and elated by the sight that caught my eye at the edge of the forest. 

Nibley, his sweet mare Unicorn saddled and packed with a simple saddle bag and one of my pa’s swords. The man stared me down, his legs spread in a defensive stance, steady and waiting for whatever I threw at him. 

I felt my resolve faltering as I neared him, his beautiful, pure face set in stone. Gods, I loved him. How had I never known how very much I loved him? In what way I loved him?

“You’re mine, Dasan Sarleno. No matter what you say or do, you’re mine. I’ll not give you up for another, I’ll not let you leave me behind. You’ve belonged to me since you left your ma’s womb, and I’ll follow you to the four hells and back, if that’s what I’ve gotta do to convince your idiot brain that your ass and your heart and your soul, and everything in between, are mine.”

“Nibs,” I began, shaking my head and feeling my cheeks heat at his firm, steady words. “That kind of life— the life of men who… I can’t, Nibs. I can’t see you hurt like that. They won’t accept, they won’t understand.”

“When have we ever cared what others thought, Dassie?” he asked, his voice just a little softer, just a little more pleading. “We’ve spent our entire lives not caring what others think. Why do you want to start now?” 

“Because I don’t want to see you hurt!” I hissed, praying he would listen to reason; praying he wouldn’t. 

_Fight for me_! I wanted to scream. _Let me be selfish. Gods, Nibs, I want to be selfish._

_I want you._

_I want you._

_I want you._

“I want you,” Nibley said, his voice husky, gentle, low and breathy. His words an exact copy of what my brain was screaming. “I want you, I love you, and whatever the world throws at us, I’ll be happy and we’ll be alright, as long as we’re together. 

“Nibley, I—“

“— Shut it, idiot,” he cut in, finally seeming to lose his patience. “Where you go, I go. You should know that by now.”

“I love you, Nibley,” I whispered, and Nibley’s eyes shone with unshed tears. “Promise me— promise that we’ll never let them see us cry, and we’ll never let them force us to feel shame. We’ll love each other, and we’ll never hide our love, and we’ll hold our heads high. And promise me that if it ever becomes too much, if we can’t take it anymore, that we’ll leave. We’ll just… just go somewhere. We’ll find somewhere that will accept us, and where we don’t have to fight. 

“Promise you’ll never let them take you away from me,” I pleaded, and Nibley’s smile was like the sun over the mountain peaks. Full of promise and life and hope. 

“Gods, Dasan, I will promise you the world. Just never leave me.”

NIBLEY—

We fought side-by-side in a dozen wars for nearly two decades. We had agreed early on to never hide who we were or what we were to each other. We shared a tent, we saved each others’ lives countless times, and we shared our lives. Did we face discrimination? Of course. We had captains who would send us to the front lines to try to get us killed, fellow soldiers who would replace our clothes with women’s dresses while we bathed. We heard laughter or jeering anytime we touched in public— even a slight brushing of hands. We never received any promotions past sergeant, and even that promotion was because we were the only two survivors of the Battle of Ingazingia and the Emperor was all but forced to give us the medals of honor and the new titles. 

Despite all of this, Dasan and I, we were together, and we were happy. We also formed many close friendships, and were defended as much as possible through all of this by those few, loyal men. 

One of the best of these was Robert Zandire. We met Robert when we were soldiers for more than five years. He was a rookie— young and dumb and arrogant. He joined in the laughter when a giant phallus was drawn on the side of our tent with what smelled like horse feces. Dasan and I were annoyed, but used to it, so we were just ready to throw the entire tent away and get a new one from the supplies cart. It would cost us nearly a months’ shared salary, but ours was old and worn anyways. 

Robert had been assigned to my and Dasan’s unit, and it took him but a day to stop laughing. Dasan took an arrow for the kid, shoving him down and out of the way of the danger, and in my rage at the pain of my lover, I had decimated the remaining El’kahrians we fought. Robert had almost reverently helped me carry Dasan back to camp, and stayed by our side as my big man recovered. It was only a week later we were called to move out, and Robert spent nearly a week in latrine duty for refusing to leave us behind, defenseless. The captain was livid, but he eventually agreed to let Robert stay behind to protect us and help me care for Dasan, with the caveat of the latrine punishment. Robert stayed with us in that little field until Dasan was able to travel, and then he helped us pack up and catch up with the main group. 

The next morning after we caught up with our troupe, a phallic-shaped carved piece of wood was tied to my saddle— facing up, so it would penetrate me if I sat in the saddle— and Robert no longer laughed. He saw the phallus at the same time I did, ripped it from the saddle with a tremendous rage, and proceeded to beat every smiling face around him with the wood. 

Needless to say, Robert was whipped by our captain for fighting with the other men, along with Dasan and I for defending him in the brawl, but he walked to his punishment with his head high and a smirk on his face. 

Poor Robert, who squirmed with discomfort and even blanched in disgust a little if Dasan and I showed any kind of affection to each other, was our staunchest defender. I couldn’t even count how many times he was beaten and punished for standing up for us, and he never was promoted for this reason either. 

Our other most avid defender was General Rafael. The teasing and pranks had died down a little with Robert’s defense, but we were still met with open hatred and hostility by many, including our own captain. The General had to witness our captain berating me and calling me a slur, basically calling me a woman, only once before our captain was removed from his post and replaced with a much more peaceful and accepting captain. 

When we both grew weary and exhausted of the bloodshed and violence, we went back to Teren, though neither of us wanted to move back home. We took up as guards in Teren Keep, followed closely by Robert. It was there, together since birth, lovers for over two decades, Dasan and I finally married. 

Several years before, Emperor Riece had passed an Empirical law making same-sex marriage legal in the Empire. Each kingdom had their own laws, but the Emperor’s proclamation made it a possibility for the kingdoms to change their own laws. The Teren Prince had wasted no time signing the marriage law in Teren. 

Dasan and I married without much fanfare, though our families were there in support. We were married by Dasan’s pa, my own leading me down the aisle, and our mas crying with joy behind us. It was a good day, a day of joy and a day with a certain kind of vindicated air to it. 

Many had tried to keep us apart, tell us our love was unnatural and wrong, and we had never allowed them any space in our hearts and souls. We laughed as Robert unconsciously made a face when we kissed after Dasan’s pa declared us husbands. 

Together since birth, we were married in our hearts since then, but we were glad of the ability to show and share that to the world now as we were joined as one by law. 

Finally. 

And forever. 

Until we took our last breaths. Together. 

THE END


End file.
